PURPOSE Pembrolizumab, a programmed death 1 inhibitor, demonstrated promising single-agent activity in untreated patients with various cancer types. The phase II KEYNOTE-427 study evaluated efficacy and safety of single-agent pembrolizumab in treatment-naive patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC; cohort A) and advanced non-ccRCC (cohort B). Results of cohort A are reported. METHODS In this open-label, single-arm phase II study, patients with advanced ccRCC received pembrolizumab 200 mg every 3 weeks for ≤ 24 months. The primary end point was objective response rate by RECIST, version 1.1. RESULTS In the total population (N = 110), median time from enrollment to data cutoff was 35.9 (range, 29.5-40.3) months. Objective response rate was 36.4% with four (3.6%) complete responses and 36 (32.7%) partial responses; disease control rate was 58.2% (95% CI, 48.4 to 67.5). Most patients (68.2%) had a decrease in target lesions, including 30.9% with a reduction ≥ 60%. Median duration of response was 18.9 (range, 2.3-37.6+) months; 64.1% of responders had a response ≥ 12 months (Kaplan-Meier). Median progression-free survival was 7.1 months (95% CI, 5.6 to 11.0). Median overall survival was not reached; 12-month and 24-month overall survival rates were 88.2% and 70.8%, respectively. Durable responses were observed across all International Metastatic RCC Database Consortium categories. Grade 3-5 treatment-related adverse events were reported in 30.0% of patients, of which colitis and diarrhea were most frequent. CONCLUSION Single-agent pembrolizumab showed promising antitumor activity as a first-line treatment in patients with advanced ccRCC, with durable responses across International Metastatic RCC Database Consortium categories. Safety and tolerability profile of pembrolizumab monotherapy was comparable to what has been previously described in other tumor types.


Recently, optical fiber communication technology have made great progress, where has been constantly exploring new technologies has greatly enhanced communications capabilities in the traditional sense, this makes the optical fiber communication technology in a broader context has been applied. Deployment of optical communication systems is costly and reconfiguration is in some cases impossible or uneconomical, therefore the experiments and simulation of systems are has become necessity to predict and optimize system performance. This paper highlights on the implement of these technologies by use optisystem program which will increase the proper understanding of mechanism action of each optical communication component and provides more freedom to explore design parameters than analytic calculations and physical experiments thus allows students to develop an intuitive understanding of optics in a rapid way.


The mechanical and metallurgical properties of the 630 (17-4PH) precipitation hardening stainless steel is greatly influenced by the type of applied heat treatments cycles. In order to achieve the homogenous microstructure in the weld metal and eliminate the HAZ due to producing the weak mechanical strength, and producing similar microstructures and mechanical strength in both weld and base metal, the study was conducted to find an optimum pre and post heat treatments before and after welding. The 2.2mm thick and 48mm tube diameter made of 630 stainless steel were welded under various operational parameters. The samples were subjected to pre weld solution treatment and post weld aging heat treatment. To reveal the microstructures of the welds, the optical and scanning electron microscopy of the welds carried out. The study shows that the direct ageing treatment at 6200C after welding can give rise to the best heat treatment to produce, the uniformity in the grain size, mechanical strength and hardness, between the base metal and the weld metal.


Our system, based on a multiagent framework called collaborative understanding of distributed knowledge (CUDK), is designed with the overall goal of balancing agents' conceptual learning and task accomplishment. The tradeoff between the two is that while conceptual learning allows an agent to improve its own concept base, it could be counter-productive: conceptual learning is time consuming and requires processing resources necessary for the agent to accomplish its tasks. In our current phase of research, we investigate the roles of resource and knowledge constraints, environmental factors (such as the frequency of queries), and learning mechanisms in a CUDK-based distributed information retrieval (DIR) application. In this application, an agent is motivated to learn about its neighbors' concept base so it can collaborate to satisfy queries that it cannot satisfy alone. Similarly, to conserve resources, an agent is motivated not to learn from neighbors that have been unhelpful in the past. As a result, it is possible for an agent to learn from a helpful neighbor that is not the authoritative expert in the system. The agents use neighborhood profiling to learn about other agents' helpfulness and conceptual inferencing to learn about other agents' known concepts. The helpfulness measure defines a metric called collaboration utility, and the inferencing results are stored in a translation table in which each entry is a mapping between two concepts plus an associated credibility score. The experiments investigate how operational and conceptual factors impact the DIR application's performance.


The Real Time Motorist Information System (RTMIS) under development at the University of Washington uses a ratio of Volume to Occupancy with a correction factor (often denoted as "g") to estimate speed. This correction factor is a function of road topology and occupancy. This project will initially produce a value for the correction factor for every pair of loops being used in the RTMIS. It will further produce a correlation between correction factor and occupancy for each set of loop pairs. The correction factor is produced using speed estimates from cross-correlation time delay measurements of on road data.


During the winter of 1990 to 1991, the Department of Energy evaluated several options to completing the originally-planned slant hole production tests. A decision was made to sidetrack the original hole and to redrill the 60 and 90{degrees} sections. The objectives for drilling the sidetrack to the original slant hole wellbore are as follows: (1) Test high angle and horizontal drilling and completion technologies as an alternative to vertical wells and hydraulic fracture treatments in tight, naturally-fractured reservoirs. (2) Production test the Cozzette open-hole interval into the pipeline to determine long-term gas productivity. (3) Production test selected paludal sandstones in the 60{degrees} section of the wellbore to determine long term gas productivity. A complex well path was designed to parallel the optimum northerly azimuth and the high angle-horizontal inclination program, but to directionally drill the lower wellbore 1000 ft to the east of the old hole. The hole displacement was planned to avoid formation damage from over 1500 barrels of drilling mud lost in the first well. Figure 1 presents the Mesaverde geologic column near the wellsite.


Field‐scale properties of fractured rocks play a crucial role in many subsurface applications, yet methodologies for identification of the statistical parameters of a discrete fracture network (DFN) are scarce. We present an inversion technique to infer two such parameters, fracture density and fractal dimension, from cross‐borehole thermal experiments data. It is based on a particle‐based heat‐transfer model, whose evaluation is accelerated with a deep neural network (DNN) surrogate that is integrated into a grid search. The DNN is trained on a small number of the heat‐transfer model runs and predicts the cumulative density function of the thermal field. The latter is used to compute fine posterior distributions of the (to be estimated) parameters. Our synthetic experiments reveal that fracture density is well constrained by data, while fractal dimension is harder to determine. Adding nonuniform prior information related to the DFN connectivity improves the inference of this parameter.


Background The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2002 and 2003 affected global health and caused major economic disruption. Adequate animal models are required to study the underlying pathogenesis of SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) infection and to develop effective vaccines and therapeutics. We report the first findings of measurable clinical disease in nonhuman primates (NHPs) infected with SARS-CoV. Methods and Findings In order to characterize clinically relevant parameters of SARS-CoV infection in NHPs, we infected cynomolgus macaques with SARS-CoV in three groups: Group I was infected in the nares and bronchus, group II in the nares and conjunctiva, and group III intravenously. Nonhuman primates in groups I and II developed mild to moderate symptomatic illness. All NHPs demonstrated evidence of viral replication and developed neutralizing antibodies. Chest radiographs from several animals in groups I and II revealed unifocal or multifocal pneumonia that peaked between days 8 and 10 postinfection. Clinical laboratory tests were not significantly changed. Overall, inoculation by a mucosal route produced more prominent disease than did intravenous inoculation. Half of the group I animals were infected with a recombinant infectious clone SARS-CoV derived from the SARS-CoV Urbani strain. This infectious clone produced disease indistinguishable from wild-type Urbani strain. Conclusions SARS-CoV infection of cynomolgus macaques did not reproduce the severe illness seen in the majority of adult human cases of SARS; however, our results suggest similarities to the milder syndrome of SARS-CoV infection characteristically seen in young children.


A growing body of evidence demonstrates a significant relationship between spirituality and health. HIV-infected individuals often find new meaning and purpose for their lives while establishing new connections and strengthening old ones. This descriptive, correlational study examined the relationships among spiritual well-being, sleep quality, and health status in 107 HIV-infected men and women. Spiritual well-being was found to be a significant factor related to both sleep quality and mental and physical health status. Every study participant reported sleep disturbance. The findings suggest that spiritual well-being and sleep quality need to be assessed so appropriate interventions can be implemented to improve health outcomes in this population.


A unique polygenic model of rat physical activity has been recently developed where rats were selected for the trait of low voluntary wheel running. We utilized this model to identify differences in soleus and plantaris muscles of sedentary low voluntary wheel running rats and physically active low voluntary wheel running rats exposed to moderate amounts of treadmill training. Three groups of 28‐day‐old male Wistar rats were used: (1) rats without a running wheel (SEDENTARY, n = 7), (2) rats housed with a running wheel (WHEEL, n = 7), and (3) rats housed with a running wheel and exercised on the treadmill (5 days/week for 20 min/day at 15.0 m/min) (WHEEL + TREADMILL, n = 7). Animals were euthanized 5 weeks after the start of the experiment and the soleus and plantaris muscles were excised and used for analyses. Increases in skeletal muscle gene expression of peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor gamma coactivator 1 alpha and fibronectin type III domain‐containing protein 5 in WHEEL + TREADMILL group were observed. Also, WHEEL + TREADMILL had higher protein levels of superoxide dismutase 2 and decreased levels of oxidative damage. Our data demonstrate that the addition of treadmill training induces beneficial muscular adaptations compared to animals with wheel access alone. Furthermore, our data expand our understanding of differential muscular adaptations in response to exercise in mitochondrial, antioxidant, and metabolic markers.


One of the critical issues that occur in many oil and gas wells is the failure of the cement sheath because of debonding from the casing string or from the formation. This results in the formation of microannuli, which can become pathways for fluid migration. Cement shrinkage during setting is regarded as one of the main causes of the formation of microannuli. In this paper, a new class of polymer-based expandable additives in the form of fibers is incorporated into the cement to compensate for shrinkage and thereby help prevent the formation of microannuli in oil and gas wells. The proposed fiber additives are made from shape-memory polymers (SMPs) and expand when exposed to temperatures above a specific value that is, by design, below the downhole temperature of the cemented zone. Fiber expansion occurs after the placement of the cement slurry but before its setting to avoid the inducement of any microfractures. As a result of the expansion of the cement paste, flow channels and fluid migration may significantly decrease while preserving the mechanical properties required for the mechanical integrity of the cement sheath. The bridging effect of fibers across individual microcracks helps control the propagation and coalescence of small fractures. Considering the inert property of the proposed additive, the water-cement ratio and its chemical properties do not need to be revisited. The measured increase in cement ductility makes the cement system more resistant to cracking. The cement expansion, fluid loss, gel strength, compressive strength, ductility, and tensile strength of the samples containing these fibers are examined using destructive and nondestructive methods, as reported here. The proposed class of expandable additives can help operators reach sustainable well integrity by increasing the contact stress at the cement–casing and the cement–formation interfaces to prevent fluid migration and the propagation of cracks.


The year 2019 represented a watershed moment for Aotearoa New Zealand's child welfare system, as a public spotlight was shone on systemic ethnic inequities during ongoing legislative changes aimed at centering Te Tiriti o Waitangi and whänau, hapü, and iwi considerations in policy and practice. In the midst of this dialogue, Victoria University of Wellington's School of Government hosted the "Children, Families, and the State"– a seminar series focused on the historical, current, and future role of the state in the lives of families and children. The seminars, and the discussion it generated, was due to the calls to action from speakers across the system, including leadership at Oranga Tamariki, within the family court, non-profit providers, commissioners and advocates, and academics.
The four brief essays in this edition of Policy Quarterly capture viewpoints from several of the seminar speakers. Despite their different perspectives, common threads unite them. A greater recognition of the structural causes of the historical and current patterns of ethnic inequities in child welfare system contact, a commitment to whänau, hapü, and iwi-centred policy, practice, and partnership, the authors argue, are vital for a more just and empowering system.
In this essay, Emily Keddell reflects on how a lack of an inequalities perspective in policymaking has shaped New Zealand's unequal child welfare system, and the ways in which this perspective can drive down the number of children who enter the system in the future.


Ample experimental evidence supports the existence of two distinct types of vasoconstrictor α-adrenoceptors in vascular smooth muscle at postjunctional sites, showing similarities with α1 and α2-adrenoceptors. Especially in vivo, the characterization of an α2-adrenoceptor mediating an increase in diastolic pressure has been most successful. In this respect the model of the pithed rat has been employed most frequently (for reviews see [1, 2]). At present, the agents cirazoline, (−) phenylephrine, (±)-erythro-methoxamine, (−)-amidephrine, SKF89748, St587 and Sgd 101/75 fulfil the criteria for selective α1-adrenoceptor agonists; their log dose-vasopressor effect curves are virtually unaffected by previous treatment with yohimbine or rauwolscine (selective dose in pithed rats: 1 mg/kg), whereas prazosin (selective dose in pithed rats: 0.1 mg/kg) causes an appreciable parallel rightward displacement. The reverse holds true for the stimulants B-HT 920, B-HT 933, B-HT 958, UK-14304, xylazine, TL-99, M-7 and DP-6,7-ADTN, which all have been classified as preferential agonists of vascular postjunctional α-adrenoceptors.


Dspecific NERVOSA is a disorder identified by specific symptom constellations that most likely emerge from a complex integration of physiological, psychological, and environmental influences. In the search for risk factors from these influences for bulimia nervosa, the authors of the 3 articles about bulimia nervosa published in this issue have implicitly conceptualized a model of the development of bulimia nervosa. This model, which was initially proposed by Lucas1and later expanded by Ploog2and by myself,3proposes that bulimia nervosa develops after the stress of dieting. This dieting experience is influenced by antecedent conditions that include genetic and physiological vulnerability, psychological predispositions that are often affected by the family, and societal influences. It is notable to remember that the salient feature of bulimia nervosa is disturbed eating behavior. See also pages 509, 521, and 529 Many years of comprehensive studies of the eating behaviors of animals have


Plasma-assisted surface treatment on thermomechanical pulp (TMP) fiber and polypropylene (PP) film was investigated to obtain interfacial adhesion at the wood fiber and PP interface. A metal plate between electrodes prevented thermal damage to the TMP fiber handsheets and PP film. Oxygen-plasma treatment provided better surface activation on the TMP fiber and PP film than argon-plasma treatment. When the surfaces of both TMP fiber handsheets and PP film were treated with the oxygen-based plasma, the tensile strength substantially increased. The optimum exposure period for TMP fiber to plasma with ionized oxygen gas was 30-90 sec. and resulted in 43-80% increased tensile strength over the untreated samples. AFM topographies showed that oxygen plasma treatment changed the surface tomography and surface roughness of the wood fiber and PP. Nodular structures were found on the flat areas of the wood fiber and PP after undergoing oxygen plasma treatment. The size of the nodules increased as treatment time increased. The surface roughness decreased with O2 plasma treatment as also did the thermal characteristics of the glass transition point ( ) and crystallinity ( ) from DSC. The RMS roughness and thermal quantities were reduced with 30 seconds of plasma treatment but slightly recovered after 60 seconds of treatment. The treatment also resulted in relative uniform surfaces with reduced RMS of TMP fiber and PP film. g T C X


Background: Memory impairment is frequent in multiple sclerosis (MS), but it is unclear what functional brain changes underlie this cognitive deterioration. Objective: To investigate functional hippocampal activation and connectivity, in relation to memory performance in MS. Methods: Structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired for 57 MS patients and 28 healthy controls (HCs), yielding hippocampal measures of volume, lesions, functional activation during a memory task and functional connectivity at rest. Memory function was based on two subtests of a larger neuropsychological test battery and related to hippocampal neuroimaging measures, using linear regression. Results: Hippocampal volume was lower in MS patients, as compared to HCs. In MS, hippocampal activation during the task was increased in cognitively preserved, but decreased in cognitively impaired, patients. Increased hippocampal connectivity was detected in MS patients, as compared to HCs, between the left hippocampus and the right posterior cingulate. Memory impairment in MS was explained (adjusted R2 = 0.27) by male gender, decreased hippocampal activation and increased hippocampal connectivity (p = 0.001). Conclusions: Decreased activation of the hippocampus, increased connectivity and male gender were associated with worse memory performance in MS. These results indicate that increased activation and increased connectivity do not always coincide, and relate differently to cognitive dysfunction in MS.


The objectives of our study are to reflect on the academic education process and analyze the concepts and practices regarding didactic-pedagogical aspects of post-graduate students attending the 'Bimodal Didactic-Pedagogical Education in Health' discipline. Questionnaires and messages posted on discussion forums in the Moodle platform were used for data collection. The data analysis was based on the following areas: curriculum conceptions and practices, biopsychosocial model, teachers' education, teaching-learning and evaluation. Our results revealed that there is a predominance of reports concerning the traditional curriculum model in undergraduate courses experienced by the post-graduate students, although it was possible to identify some progress related to the diversity of practices and learning settings. The concepts and practices reflect the transition faced by the Brazilian Higher Education nowadays, where approaches based on the biomedical model coexist with very subtle changes, on which we must reflect critically during teaching education in Health.


Azecine fragments are frequently presented in natural products and bioactive compounds. However, minor efforts have been devoted to these 10-membered N-heterocycless, and their synthesis is still challenging. We report herein the first catalytic formal [6+4] cycloaddition for the synthesis of 10-membered azecines. Under palladium catalysis, the reaction of δ-vinylvalerolactones and benzofuran-derived azadienes proceeds smoothly to afford benzofuran-fused azecines with high diastereoselectivity in moderate to good yields. A unique transannular reaction of these 10-membered azecines for the construction of polycyclic compounds is also demonstrated.


Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has drastically disrupted daily routines, imposing rules such as social distancing and isolation that limit flexibility in one's social environment. These restrictions may spur the rate of cognitive decline in older adults, increasing the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and exacerbating symptoms such as memory loss, impaired spatial awareness and language. These mandates may also hinder physical activity engagement, further increasing the risk of mental health problems and accelerating cognitive decline. As social interaction and physical activity form components of cognitive reserve, older adults may now face a higher risk of AD and faster AD progression. This paper will review the literature examining how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the rate of cognitive decline in older adults in terms of AD pathology in three domains: social, physical, and psychological factors. Methods: This systematic review summarizes the literature examining the relationship between social engagement, physical activity, and psychological well-being on cognitive decline in older adults. Electronic databases (PubMed, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and PsycINFO) were searched with the following keywords: "COVID-19, social isolation, Alzheimer's, cognitive decline, physical activity, social, psychological". Results: Social engagement and physical activity can reduce the rate of cognitive decline and decrease the risk of AD and other dementias. Given that social, physical, and psychological factors have been impacted by pandemic restrictions, studies show this may result in greater cognitive decline in the years to follow. This is exacerbated due to the comorbidity between psychological distress and AD symptoms. Discussion: The results of this study can be further explored to develop an intervention that can mitigate the negative effects of pandemic restrictions in individuals with AD. Overall, preventative strategies targeting factors of cognitive reserve should be urgently implemented for disadvantaged populations with a focus on older adults. Conclusion: Clarifying the relationship between the COVID-19 restrictions and its effects on cognitive decline in AD will improve the health and well-being of older adults in the present and future. Understanding these effects on cognitive decline in AD has broader implications regarding individual responses to COVID-19 restrictions, and its associations with social engagement, physical activity, and psychiatric disorders in aging.


Background Pulmonary hypertension (PH) exists when mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP) is 25 mm Hg or greater. mPAP of 35 mm Hg or greater, with increased pulmonary vascular resistance from portopulmonary hypertension, has been associated with increased post-liver transplant (LT) mortality. However, mPAP of 35 mm Hg or greater can also occur in the setting of normal pulmonary vascular resistance from a high flow state and/or increased pulmonary venous volume. We describe the frequency of patients with mPAP of 35 mm Hg or greater at LT and correlate their clinical outcomes with hemodynamic characteristics. Methods We reviewed hemodynamics of 300 consecutive adult patients undergoing LT. Primary and secondary outcomes were transplant hospitalization mortality and 1-year mortality. Results Overall, PH was documented in 117 (39%) of 300 transplant recipients. Five patients were receiving ongoing treatment for portopulmonary hypertension at the time of transplant. mPAP of 35 mm Hg or greater was seen in 31 of 300 patients (10.3%; median, 38 mm Hg; range, 35-46 mm Hg). No intraoperative deaths occurred. Transplant hospitalization mortality was 0% for those with mPAP of 35 mm Hg or greater (vs 2.2% if mPAP < 35 mm Hg, P = 1.0). One-year mortality was similar for patients with and without mPAP of 35 mm Hg or greater (3.2% vs 6.0%, P = 1.0). No deaths were associated with right heart failure. Conclusions At the time of LT, 39% of recipients had PH (mPAP ≥ 25 mm Hg) and 10.3% had mPAP ≥ 35 mm Hg. When associated with a high flow state and/or increased volume, transplant hospitalization and 1-year posttransplant outcomes were not adversely affected.


Marine renewable energy has the potential to produce up to 20% of the UK's current electricity demand, leading to extensive research and development activities in this area. As the industry of wave energy progresses toward commercialisation, a number of barriers still limit its potential, including the cost of energy. A significant portion of this is the cost of operation and maintenance activity due to the challenging environments in which wave energy devices reside. Maintenance activity as it stands can include vessel activity and skilled workers including divers. Condition monitoring techniques designed for the wave energy industry and utilising the water that surrounds the devices could reduce maintenance costs by decreasing human intervention and the early detection of faults and degradation. This thesis looks to explore the feasibility of underwater Acoustic Emission (AE) monitoring as a method of condition-based maintenance for wave energy converters and other marine energy devices. This is achieved through three strands of work: sea trials, component testing and propagation modelling. Eighteen months of acoustic data from the Lifesaver wave energy converter, deployed at Falmouth Bay Test Facility in Falmouth Bay, UK, are re-assessed for evidence of component AE signatures. Signatures are identified and presented from the power-take-off and generator of the device. Novel testing is conducted through submerged marine component testing adapted to include AE monitoring. Three 12-strand double braided synthetic mooring ropes undergo cyclic fatigue testing and AE signals detected can be classified by amplitude and frequency range, with increasing severity as the component loading is increased before sample failure. Finally, propagation modelling is used to understand the effect of AE from engineering components on the local soundscape. To enable a comparison between devices, a new efficiency ratio is presented that compares the underwater acoustic energy emitted through the life cycle of the wave energy converter to the useful electrical energy produced by the device. This thesis presents the first steps toward a novel method of condition monitoring in an ocean environment, potentially adaptable for arrays of devices.


1,2-alpha-Mannosidase was purified approximately 1,400-fold from an enzyme product of Aspergillus oryzae. The enzyme showed a single band in disc gel electrophoresis and the molecular weight was estimated to be about 49,000 daltons by gel exclusion chromatography. The substrate specificity of the enzyme was examined with mannooligosaccharides, yeast mannan, glycopeptides, and a glycoprotein. The alpha-(1 leads to 2)-linking mannose residues located at the nonreducing-ends of the substrates were selectively removed by the enzyme, whereas p-nitrophenyl alpha-D-mannopyranoside was completely stable to the enzyme. alpha-(1 leads to 2)-Linking mannose residues in intact bovine pancreatic ribonuclease B were also removed completely with the enzyme. The enzyme showed an optimum pH in the range of pH 4.9 to 5.3 and had a Km value of 0.57 mM with 1,2-alpha-mannobiose. The present alpha-mannosidase was quite stable, and the activity was inhibited by D-mannono-gamma-lactone and by heavy metal ions, including zinc ions.


Tweets are being created short text message and shared for both users and data analysts. Twitter which receives over 400 million tweets per day has emerged as an invaluable source of news, blogs, opinions and more. Our proposed work consists three components tweet stream clustering to cluster tweet using k-prototype cluster algorithm (In existing base paper, k-means clustering algorithm used to create the initial clusters. with global cluster, it didn't work well. So in our proposed work, we use k-prototype clustering produce tighter clusters than k-means clustering, especially if the clusters are globular) and second tweet cluster vector technique to generate rank summarization using greedy algorithm, therefore requires functionality which significantly differ from traditional summarization. in general, tweet summarization and third to detect and monitors the summary - based and volume based variation to produce timeline automatically from tweet stream. Implementing continuous tweet stream reducing a text document is however not a simple task, since a huge number of tweets are worthless, unrelated and raucous in nature, due to the social nature of tweeting. Further, tweets are strongly correlated with their posted instance and up-to-the-minute tweets tend to arrive at a very fast rate. Efficiency - tweet streams are always very big in level, hence the summarization algorithm should be greatly capable; Flexibility - it should provide tweet summaries of random moment durations. Topic evolution - it should routinely detect sub - topic changes and the moments that they happen.


We present an analysis of the response of a grounding electrode located on the top of a mountain. Specifically, we derive an analytical solution for the low-frequency response of a hemispheric grounding electrode buried on the top of a cone-shaped mountain characterized by its apex angle. The derived equation is validated using numerical simulations based on the finite element method obtained using COMSOL. Simulation results show that, for the same ground electrical parameters, the grounding resistance of such an electrode for steep mountains can be significantly higher than that obtained if the electrode is on flat ground. Such situations can occur in particular for the case of telecommunication towers or wind turbines located on mountaintops. The study emphasizes the importance of considering the terrain profile in the evaluation of the grounding resistance of structures located in elevated locations.


Abstract:  The marine reptile Endennasaurus from the Upper Triassic Zorzino Limestone of northern Italy is redescribed and reassessed. New details of the skull and postcranial skeleton are revealed, confirming the attribution of this genus to the diapsid reptile clade Thalattosauriformes. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that Endennasaurus was related to the European genus Askeptosaurus and the Chinese Anshunsaurus. Despite a rather conservative postcranial morphology, Endennasaurus clearly occupied a highly specialized dietary niche as it combined a slender tapering premaxillary rostrum with a complete absence of either marginal or palatal teeth.


In the background of globalization, economic assimilation and integration among countries and their financial markets is evident. The interdependency among major world stock markets has also increased. This paper examines the relationships between selected Asian and US stock markets. It covers the period, 19/10/1999 to 25/04/2008, using daily closing data of twelve stock markets to investigate. The research methodology employed includes testing for stationarity, implementation of the Granger Causality test and Johansen Cointegration test. Stock markets under study are found to be integrated. The degree of correlation between all the markets, but Japan, varies between moderate to high. The findings also prove that stock markets returns are not normally distributed. The time series understudy also show non-stationary patterns. Furthermore, it provided that no stock market is playing a very dominant role in influencing other markets. The US influence is not as noticeable as in the earlier researches. Comparing this study with previous ones, It can be said that stock market integration in relation with US markets is time varying. The results of the present paper are useful for investors in management of their existing international portfolios.


The authors are commended on this very well-done analysis, as well as their research into the very complicated and evolving field of patient outcomes. They utilize a 2-center prospective database and perform retrospective analysis to assess how patient-reported outcome measures correlate to lower extremity weakness.1 Spine surgery has evolved over the last several decades to appreciate that the most important outcomes are based on what the patients' desire. In their analysis, the authors noted that 28% of the patients had a lower extremity motor deficit. However, there arises the question whether some relative weakness is actually a disability. The American Disability Act defines a disability as "a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity."2 Thus, it is unlikely that over a quarter of the patient's in the studies were actually truly disabled. This is illustrated in that 82 of 125 (78.1%) were a grade 4/5 weakness. The majority of patients, I have encountered do not even appreciate a neurologic deficit with this grade of weakness. For example, with anterior tibialis weakness, patients are able to still elevate their foot with ambulating. Their foot swing does not get caught and they do not trip or stumble, therefore, most often this "weakness" is not appreciated by the patient. Such that this degree weakness would not be defined as a disability. The authors do discuss the differences of various patient-reported outcomes. For example, the Timed Up and Go test most likely had the best correlation in that this test which specifically looks at functionally assessment of the patient. This is as opposed to the visual analogue scale (VAS) which would not be expected to correlate with weakness in that it is purely a pain assessment tool. The authors also illustrate another concern with various patient-reported outcome metrics. Many have what is described as a "floor" effect. Meaning that with the patient scores are very low changes or improvements will not be significant enough to be detected. In their case example, the patient has an Oswestry Disability Index of 12, VAS back 2, VAS leg 1 but the minimum clinically important difference for these are 12.8, 1.2, and 1.6, respectively.3 Therefore, it is not possible to have a successful on operation in this patient since we are unable to obtain negative number. I appreciate the authors' point that there are deficiencies in many of the patient-reported outcome measures. I further agree with their conclusions that presently our patient-reported outcome measure is not as broad and specific as we need. For example, often many factors are not appreciated by these focal and very specific metrics. If the patients have an operation and do not meet the minimal clinical important difference, but the patient gets off all opiates is the operation not a success? In summary, the authors again are congratulated for their work on this very difficult topic. Their insight and appreciation for how disabilities are manifested in patient's outcome are "ahead of the curve." However, it was relatively recently in spine surgery that surgical success was defined only by the presence or absence of a successful fusion on radiographs. Neurospine 2020;17(1):281-282. https://doi.org/10.14245/ns.2040106.053 Neurospine


Purpose - – The paper aims to examine the determinants of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures in the annual reports of Malaysian public listed companies (PLCs). In 2006, Bursa Malaysia Berhad (BMB) launched its CSR Framework (effective in 2007) which is supposed to guide the Malaysian PLCs' CSR disclosures. It is believed that this CSR framework may influence CSR disclosures to be more systematic, yet there is no evidence whether this framework influences the extent and quality of CSR disclosures. Thus, this study examines this area of research. The study also tests the influence of award on CSR disclosures. Design/methodology/approach - – CSR disclosure checklist was developed to analyse the extent and quality of CSR information disclosures in the year 2008 annual reports of the Malaysian PLCs. Findings - – Malaysian PLCs disclose more CSR information related to community and environment than workplace and marketplace CSR themes. On the other hand, the quality of disclosure practices was minimal when it is compared to the extent of disclosure practices. Finally, the study also found that the award's variable has a significant positive relationship with both the extent and quality of CSR disclosure practices of the Malaysian PLCs. Research limitations/implications - – The recently developed BMB's CSR framework seems to have impact on the level and systematic CSR reporting practices of Malaysian PLCs. However, the quality of CSR disclosures is considered minimal. Practical implications - – The results of the study bring some practical implications to the regulators, particularly Bursa Malaysia. First, it is good to observe that most companies have practiced specific disclosure in a separate statement with regard to CSR. However, the format of presentation and the extent of disclosure vary among the firms. Second, further guidelines need to be developed to provide a clearer framework of disclosure for CSR information. At the moment, Bursa Malaysia only listed down general principles of CSR themes. In addition, the regulators should also look into the evolving issues in CSR, such as the issue of climate change reporting. For example, the Climate Disclosure Standards Board has issued a voluntary Climate Change Reporting Framework. Originality/value - – This study examined both the traditional (i.e. firm size and profitability) and non-traditional (i.e. award) factors influencing management's decision to disclose CSR information in the annual reports of the Malaysian PLCs. Furthermore, the study reported how Malaysian PLCs comply with the recently implemented CSR framework issued by BMB.


Many countries around the world are partly prefunding their otherwise pay-as-you-go (PAYG) financed social security systems by establishing or further developing existing public pension reserve funds (PPRFs). Most OECD countries have put in place internal and external governance mechanisms and investment controls to ensure the sound management of these funds and better isolate them from undue political influence. These structures and mechanisms are in line with OECD standards of good pension fund governance and investment management. In particular, the requirements of accountability, suitability and transparency are broadly met by these reserve funds. However, some specific details of the funds' governance and investment management could be improved in a few countries, such as enhancing the expertise in the funds' governing boards and constraining discretionary interventions by government. Such reforms will ultimately raise the long-term investment performance of the funds and the solvency of social security systems.


The ability to remember past experiences enables a system to improve its performance as well as its competence. For example, a system might be able solve problems faster by adapting previous solutions. Additional tasks, such as avoiding unwanted behavior by detecting potential problems, monitoring long-term goals by remembering what subgoals have been achieved, and reflection on past actions, become feasible.
As the tasks that an intelligent system accomplishes become more and more complex, so does the experience it acquires in the process. Such experience has a temporal extent and is expressed in terms of concepts and relations with deep semantics associated to them. Memory systems should be able to deal with the temporal aspect of experience, exploit this semantic knowledge for storage and retrieval and do so in a scalable fashion. However, relying just on experience will not achieve a broad coverage, as it needs to be used in conjunction with other reasoning mechanisms. That is why we need the ability to add episodic memory functionality to intelligent systems.
Today's knowledge-based systems are complex software applications and the ability to develop them in a modular fashion, using generic, reusable components is essential.
We propose to separate the episodic memory from the system that uses it and to build a generic, reusable memory module that can be attached to a variety of applications in order to provide this functionality. Its goal is to provide accurate, scalable, efficient and content-addressable access to prior episodes. Having such a reusable memory module should allow research to focus on the generic aspects of memory representation, organization and retrieval and its interaction with the external application and it should also reduce the complexity of the overall system.
In this dissertation we propose a set of general requirements that any memory module should provide regarding memory encoding, storage and retrieval. We present an implementation that satisfies these requirements and evaluate it on three different tasks: plan synthesis, plan recognition and Physics problem solving. The memory module proved easily adaptable to these tasks, providing fast, accurate and scalable retrieval.


The question of how mothers' and fathers' representations of attachment correlate ten years later with children's perceptions of attachment relationships was examined in a longitudinal study on Finnish families (N = 42). The parents completed the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) during the child's first year of life. At 11 years, the children filled out three scales on how secure they perceive the relationship with each parent. Parents' AAI classifications and AAI dimensions based on continuous scales were used as predictors of the preadolescents' attachment security. Regression analyses demonstrated that fathers' but not mothers' State-of-Mind and Experience dimensions predicted preadolescents' security of attachment to father. The discussion focuses on the predictive validity of the classical categorical versus the recently proposed continuous approach and the different roles of parents in transmitting security from one generation to another.


Based on finite element method, we develop a model of the induced geoelectric field (IGF) occurring in land-sea boundary regions during large geomagnetic field disturbances. The model is used first to study the effects of the changes in the lithospheric conductivity, ionospheric current, and ocean depth on the distribution of IGF in a typical land-sea boundary region. The results show that the changes in the lithospheric conductivity and ionospheric current (frequency, magnitude and direction) have major effects and ocean depth has minor effect on IGF in coastal areas. Then by incorporating a realistic 3-D conductivity variation of Jiaodong Peninsula (JDP) in China obtained from measured data, the model is used to simulate the IGF variation in JDP covering its land-sea boundaries for east-west and north-south ionospheric currents. The results show a new aspect that extremely large IGF development on the land side of the coastal bay areas perpendicular to the currnet compared to plane coastal areas. The results can stimulate detailed investigations of IGF (and GIC, geomagnetically induced current) in coastal areas.


Context. Tracing nuclear inflows and outflows in active galactic nuclei (AGNs), determining the mass of gas involved in them, and their impact on the host galaxy and nuclear black hole requires 3D imaging studies of both the ionized and molecular gas.
Aims. We map the distribution and kinematics of molecular and ionized gas in a sample of active galaxies to quantify the nuclear inflows and outflows. Here, we analyze the nuclear kinematics of NGC 1566 via ALMA observations of the CO J:2-1 emission at 24 pc spatial and ∼2.6 km s−1 spectral resolution, and Gemini-GMOS/IFU observations of ionized gas emission lines and stellar absorption lines at similar spatial resolution, and 123 km s−1 of intrinsic spectral resolution.
Methods. The morphology and kinematics of stellar, molecular (CO), and ionized ([N II]) emission lines are compared to the expectations from rotation, outflows, and streaming inflows.
Results. While both ionized and molecular gas show rotation signatures, there are significant non-circular motions in the innermost 200 pc and along spiral arms in the central kpc (CO). The nucleus shows a double-peaked CO profile (full width at zero intensity of 200 km s−1), and prominent (∼80 km s−1) blue- and redshifted lobes are found along the minor axis in the inner arcseconds. Perturbations by the large-scale bar can qualitatively explain all features in the observed velocity field. We thus favor the presence of a molecular outflow in the disk with true velocities of ∼180 km s−1 in the nucleus and decelerating to 0 by ∼72 pc. The implied molecular outflow rate is 5.6 M⊙ yr−1, with this gas accumulating in the nuclear 2″ arms. The ionized gas kinematics support an interpretation of a similar but more spherical outflow in the inner 100 pc, with no signs of deceleration. There is some evidence of streaming inflows of ∼50 km s−1 along specific spiral arms, and the estimated molecular mass inflow rate, ∼0.1 M⊙ yr−1, is significantly higher than the SMBH accretion rate (ṁ = 4.8 × 10−5 M⊙ yr−1).


Standard heat pump (HP) systems with horizontal ground heat exchangers (HGHE) are commonly designed based on arbitrary knowledge gained over time and the use of the rule of thumb. Where an undersizing of the HGHE occurs, the HP efficiencies are lowered. Undersizing could result as a consequence of underestimating the soils thermal conductivity. Therefore, this paper considers the combined photovoltaic and solar thermal (PVT) collectors as an extension to standard HP heating systems with a HGHE in single-family houses with the possibility of improving the COP of the HP at a later stage and effortlessly. With the implemented hydronic scheme, the PVT-collector is also used to regenerate the soil around the ground to increase the temperature level of the heat source resulting in improved performance. However, the efficiency potential of the PV-Cells due to active cooling of the modules is analyzed. The results show an increase of the seasonal performance factor (SPF) of 4.1 % and higher electric energy output of 4.4% due to active cooling of the PV-Cells while energy consumption of the regeneration pump is covered.


Optical microscopy offers a unique insight of biological structures with a sub-micrometer resolution and a minimum invasiveness. However, the inhomogeneities of the specimen itself can induce multiple scattering of light and optical aberrations which limit the observation to depths close to the surface. To predict quantitatively the penetration depth in microscopy, we theoretically derive the single-to-multiple scattering ratio in reflection. From this key quantity, the multiple scattering limit is deduced for various microscopic imaging techniques such as confocal microscopy, optical coherence tomography and related methods.


The Internet of Things need new business mode to developing. Under the booming manufacturing industry, modern IT technology is applied in traditional mechanical processing and manufacturing industry to relieve the talents shortage, and to improve production efficiency. According to the characteristics of CNC machinery, proposed an idea that to establish a CAD/CAM integrating services platform by equipment manufacturing enterprises. By taking full advantage of technology and human resources, offer services to equipment users to meet market demand. The mode uses advanced computer network technology, providing a new business model to the development of the internet of things, also, offering a new way for the upgrading of enterprise products.


The gas mixing pressuring and calorific value control of gas mixing process have the characteristics of strong coupling, nonlinear, uncertainty and large time-varying. If the calorific value of mixing gas is unstable in gas pressurization station, the quality and quantity of iron and steel production will be affected. In this paper, an compound decoupling control method of fuzzy-single neuron adaptive PID is proposed according to the mixing gas pressure and calorific value decoupling control, the fuzzy decoupling controller is used to realize the initial adjustment of mixing gas and pressure, which has the characteristics of rapidity and anti-interference performance. The fine adjustment work of control process is completed by the secondary adjustment of adaptive PID controller of single neuron, the design of controller has the ability of parameter self-learning, and the simulation results show that this design scheme has a better dynamic performance than traditional PID scheme to verify the feasibility of this method.


Abstract.
 The Holocene Cañada Honda fossil reef, located in southwestern Dominican Republic, provides a unique opportunity to examine a well-preserved fossil coral reef that thrived in a high-sedimentation environment between 9,000 to 5,000 years ago. Measurements of coral growth rates from the corals Montastraea faveolata and Siderastrea siderea were conducted and comparisons made with growth rate data of these same species from modern coral reefs throughout the Caribbean. Also, assessments of coral species abundance, morphology, age, and distribution, as well as reef sediment composition, were made to determine the paleoenvironment of reef accretion. This reef is characterized by a high relative abundance of sediment-tolerant coral species that have a tendency to form almost monospecific stands. Individual colonies have a propensity to grow as encrusting, dome-shaped, platy-like forms and specimens of Montastraea faveolata commonly contain bands of sediment incorporated into the skeleton. Calibrated radiocarbon ages of fossil corals range from 9,256±137 to 6,737±94.5 BP. Correlation of radiocarbon ages with well-established Holocene sea-level curves indicates that most corals on this reef developed at depths >15m. Measured growth rates in Siderastrea siderea (0.2–0.4 cm/yr) and Montastraea faveolata (0.09–0.44 cm/yr) are relatively low compared with growth rates from modern reef sites, indicating reduced light intensity caused by coral growth at depths greater than 15 m. Reef sediment is characterized by more than 85% carbonate material. A significant portion of the carbonate is allochtonous and was derived from nearby Neogene limestones. The reef was able to survive under high-sedimentation conditions because the high carbonate content of incoming terrigenous sediment would have allowed better light penetration and probable sporadic storms would provide intervening low-sedimentation periods during which reef corals could respond and grow back, keeping-up with sedimentation.


In an important and influential 1932 paper, Kolmogorov proposed a "calculus of problems" and noted its similarity to the intuitionistic propositional calculus of Brouwer and Heyting. According to Kolmogorov's informal idea, one problem is said to be "reducible" to another if any solution of the second problem can easily be transformed into a solution of the first problem. In 1955 Kolmogorov's doctoral student Medvedev developed a rigorous elaboration of Kolmogorov's informal idea, in terms of Turing's theory of computability and unsolvability. A mass problem was defined to be a set of Turing oracles, i.e., an arbitrary subset of the Baire space. A mass problem was said to be solvable if it contains at least one computable member. One mass problem was said to be reducible to another if there exists a partial computable functional carrying all members of the second problem to members of the first problem. This reducibility notion is now known as strong reducibility, in contrast to the weak reducibility of Muchnik 1963, who required only that for each member of the second problem there exists a member of the first problem which is Turing reducible to it. On this basis Medvedev and Muchnik respectively noted that the strong and weak degrees of unsolvability form Brouwerian lattices. Subsequently these lattices turned out to be an extremely useful tool in the classification of unsolvable problems arising in several areas of mathematics, including most recently dynamical systems. The purpose of this talk is to introduce these ideas, which will be elaborated further in subsequent talks.


Interaction between organic solvent vapors, zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) and copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) coated on quartz crystal resonators were investigated for various types of organic solvent vapors including acetone, propanol, ethanol, tetrahydrofuran, methanol, nail lacquer remover, 100 Pipers and Masterblend whiskies. The major different features of the resonance frequency shift as a function of time were extracted in order to employ in gas sensor. The sensor consists of ZnPc or CuPc thin film with the thickness of ~300 nm coated on quartz crystal with resonance frequency of 2 MHz. It used as a transducer by convert the surface adsorption into the frequency shift. When the odor interacts with ZnPc or CuPc layer, the quartz frequency normally decreases from the fundamental frequency due to the additional mass on quartz surface. The different types of organic solvent have different sensitivity to the thin film and these changing lead to the different frequency shift characteristics. The frequency shift were collected and the selected data points at the time of 5, 10, 15, 20, 70, 75, and 80 minutes after dropping alcohol were used to extract the feature by using the principal component analysis (PCA) in order to classify the type of alcohol. The PCA can be used to identify the major characteristic difference of various organic solvent interactions. The main features can be identified by the amount of the frequency shift and the decay characteristics.


Background and Aims: Microleakage is an important problem with direct restorations and familiarity with contributing factors is of utmost importance. The aim of this study was to evaluate the microleakage of three glass ionomer restorations in class V cavities. Materials and Methods: In this in vitro study, class V cavity preparations were made on the buccal and lingual/ palatal surfaces of 30 human premolars (60 cavities). The specimens were divided into three group (n=10, 20 cavities). Restored as follows: group1: with Fuji IX (HVGI) ionomer/G coat plus, group 2: Ionofil molar (HVGI)/ G coat plus, and group 3: Fuji II LC (RMGI) / G coat plus. All specimens were finished and polished immediately and were thermocycled (2000 cycles, 5-50°C) . In each group; half of the teeth were load cycled (50000 cycles). Finally, the teeth were immersed in 0.15% basic fushine dye for 24 hours at room temperature and then sectioned and observed under stereomicroscope. Data were analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis, Man- Whitney test and a comparison between incisal and gingival microleakage was made using Wilcoxon analysis. Results: It was shown that the mechanical load cycling and filling material did not cause a statistically significant increase in the incisal and gingival microleakage in any of groups (P>0.05). Conclusion: It was concluded that the extent microleakage of Fuji II LC was similar to that of the highly viscous glass ionomers (Ionofil molar, Fuji IX) and load cycling did not increase the microleakage. .t . a . i r r


Background Data are limited on the proportion of stroke patients nationally appropriate for thrombolysis either within the 3 h time window or the recently tested 4.5 h. This information is important for the redesign of services. Methods Data on case mix, eligibility for thrombolysis, treatment and outcomes were extracted from the National Sentinel Stroke 2008 Audit dataset. This contains retrospective data on up to 60 consecutive stroke admissions from each acute hospital in England, Wales and Northern Ireland between 1 April and 30 June 2008. Findings All relevant hospitals participated, submitting data on 11 262 acute stroke patients. 2118 patients arrived within 2 h and 2596 within 3 h of the onset of symptoms and 587 people were already in hospital. Therefore, 28% (3183) were potentially eligible for thrombolysis based on a 3 h time criterion. Of these, 1914 were under 80 years and 2632 had infarction with 14% (1605) meeting all three National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke study criteria and so being potentially eligible for thrombolysis. If the time window is increased to 4.5 h then only another 2% became eligible. If the age limit was removed for treatment, the percentage potentially appropriate for tissue plasminogen activator increased to 23% within 3 h and 26% within 4.5 h. Overall, 1.4% (160) of patients were thrombolysed. Interpretation Thrombolysis rates are currently low in the UK. 14% of patients in this sample were potentially suitable for thrombolysis using the 3 h time window. This would only increase marginally if thrombolysis was extended to include those up to 4.5 h. The greatest impact on increasing the proportion of patients suitable for thrombolysis would be to increase the number of patients presenting early and by demonstrating that the treatment is safe and effective in patients over 80 years of age.


We consider the problem of exploiting parallelism to accelerate the performance of spacial access methods and specifically, R-trees [11]. Our goal is to design a server for spatial data, so that to maximize the throughput of range queries. This can be achieved by (a) maximizing parallelism for large range queries, and (b) by engaging as few disks as possible on point queries [22].
We propose a simple hardware architecture consisting of one processor with several disks attached to it. On this architecture, we propose to distribute the nodes of a traditonal R-tree, with cross-disk pointers ("Multiplexed" R-tree). The R-tree code is identical to the one for a single-disk R-tree, with the only addition that we have to decide which disk a newly created R-tree node should be stored in. We propose and examine several criteria to choose a disk for a new node. The most successful one, termed "proximity index" or PI, estimates the similarity of the new node with the other R-tree nodes already on a disk, and chooses the disk with the lowest similarity. Experimental results show that our scheme consistently outperforms all the other heuristics for node-to-disk assignments, achieving up to 55% gains over the Round Robin one. Experiments also indicate that the multiplexed R-tree with PI heuristic gives better response time than the disk-stripping (="Super-node") approach, and imposes lighter load on the I/O sub-system.
The speed up of our method is close to linear speed up, increasing with the size of the queries.


The emission of gravitational waves is studied for a system of massive objects interacting on hyperbolic orbits within the quadrupole approximation following the work of Capozziello et al. Here we focus on the derivation of an analytic formula for the energy spectrum of the emitted waves. We checked numerically that our formula is in agreement with the two limiting cases for which results were already available: for the eccentricity {\epsilon} = 1, the parabolic case whose spectrum was computed by Berry and Gair, and the large {\epsilon} limit with the formula given by Turner.


The paper deals with dynamic analysis of automatic ship steering gear systems utilising complex controls that function according to the principle of proportional, integral and derivation regulators. The analysis involves a system dynamic simulation modelling methodology as one of the most suitable and effective means of dynamic modelling of complex non-linear, natural, organisational and technical systems. The paper discusses system dynamics simulation models being used in qualitative (mental-verbal, structural) and quantitative (mathematical and computer) simulation models on ships equipped with trailing steering systems and PID regulator. Authors suggest using the presented models for designing and constructing new steering systems, for diagnosing existing constructions and for education in Universities.


Neurologic complications associated with vitamin B12 deficiency include spinal cord degeneration, peripheral neuropathy and alteration of mental status. The possibility of vitamin B12 deficiency must be considered in all patients with these nervous system disorders, even in those who do not have anemia. If treatment is started early, most of the neurologic deficits will resolve. Delayed therapy usually halts the progression of the disease, but permanent sequelae may occur.


Cheburashka is one of the most famous animation characters in the Soviet period. This paper carries out a discursive
analysis of four animation films in which the curious creature, Cheburashka, is the protagonist. This paper explores
the pedagogic and ideological socialisation functions that the Cheburashka animation films bring about, analysing
the implicit and explicit values passed on to the audiences.
The paper comprises a theoretical introduction and a methodological framework section in which the formal
arguments of the analysis are elucidated. The next section examines the four animation movies that make up the
saga: Gena the Crocodile (1969), Cheburashka (1971), Shapoklyak (1974) and Cheburashka goes to school (1983).
This paper confirms the appearance of ideological principles that start showing in the way the characters handle
conflict resolution. This paper finishes with a succinct conclusion and reflection.


With the global population becoming more urban and less rural, increasingly research has argued for concepts such as establish Green Infrastructure (GI) as a tool for enhancing wildlife survival and human?s living quality (e.g. Harrison et al., 1995; Benedict and McMahon, 2006). However, an interdisciplinary planning approach underpinned by ecological and social evidence has not yet been fully developed. This research therefore seeks to integrate an ecological network with a green space planning standard by exploring the use of biotope and sociotope mapping methods. Seeking a comprehensive planning that takes all green resources into account, a green space typology is firstly developed according to Taiwanese contexts for identifying green spaces from land use maps. In order to specify effective features of these green spaces to bird survival and user preferences, an insight was conducted into the relationship of ?birds and urban habitats?, as well as ?human preferred urban green spaces? in Taipei City. Important environmental factors influencing bird distribution and influencing human experiences in urban green spaces are respectively specified and developed into an ecological value index (EVI) to detail potential habitats and a social value index (SVI) to evaluate recreational green space provision. Interestingly, proximity to green space appears to plays a more critical role in human preferences than bird survival in Taipei city; size is important both as a habitat and for creating an attractive green space; and green space quality tends to be a more significant factor than its structure for both wildlife and people. Utilising the bio-sociotope maps, this thesis argues for a number of strategies: conserving, enlarging, or creating large green spaces in green space deficient areas; increasing ecological and recreational value by enhancing green space quality of specific characteristics; and tackling gravity distance by combining green space accessibility and attractiveness in optimising urban green structure. As these suggestions are a challenge to apply in intensively developed urban areas, barriers from land use, political mechanisms, technical shortages, and cultural characteristics are also explored with possible resolutions presented for facilitating implementation. It is clear that optimising a multifunctional GI for both wildlife and people requires interdisciplinary knowledge and cooperation from various fields. The EVI and SVI developed within this thesis create the potential for a more place-specific and quantifiable green spaces strategy to help better link ecological and social functions in urban areas.


The paper is dedicated to the study of the interdependence of structure and properties of sintered heterophase ceramic composition based on ultra-fine (nanosized) powders. The compositions based on brittle oxygen-free high-strength compounds under certain conditions are able to demonstrate micro-plasticity. Microstructure of such materials typically features homogeneous fine grains with certain critical maximum grain size. The substantial contribution of interphase boundaries and their dislocation structure to the non-trivial mechanical properties is discussed. Special features of interphase boundaries are demonstrated to contribute to the change in rupture resistance of the heterophase ceramics. Correlations between strength and elastic properties and results of tribological tests using «pin and disk» arrangement were studied. Increased fracture resistance, wear resistance, and micro-plasticity of heterophase ceramics is found to be due to the modification microstructure size parameters and distinctive features of interphase boundaries. The generally formulated purpose of the present study is a search for the solution to the problem of production of the advanced structural ceramic materials based upon oxygen-free refractory compounds with improved physical and mechanical properties.


Human-associated microbial communities have been implicated in a variety of chronic diseases, including inflammatory bowel diseases, obesity, and autoimmune disorders like diabetes. Environmental communities are also important for bioconversion of waste products in biofuel production. However, microbiomes are highly complex systems involving mutualism and competition between many constituent organisms, and a variety of fundamental and interesting computational challenges remain in the modeling of pathogenicity and community-wide response to perturbations. In this thesis we discuss several computational and statistical approaches to predictive modeling of microbiome behavior using high-throughput metagenomic and transcriptomic sequencing data, including models that leverage biological structures such as phylogenies and gene ontologies to help extract features and constrain model complexity. We also demonstrate several applications of these approaches to real biological problems.
We successfully apply predictive modeling to new studies of human-associated and environmental microbial communities in several interdisciplinary collaborations with colleagues at numerous institutions around the world. These include a prominent study of the species and genes present in diverse mammalian gut communities, a study of the effects of yogurt consumption on gut microbial taxa and gene expression (i.e. transcriptomics) in humans and mice, and a large cross-sectional global survey of the human gut microbiota in varied populations. We also develop SourceTracker, a Bayesian approach to predictive modeling of mixtures of microbial communities with important applications in forensics, pollution studies, public health, and detection of sample contamination.
This dissertation introduces predictive modeling of human-associated and environmental microbial communities, increasing our ability to understanding the diversity and distribution of the human microbiota, and especially the systematic changes that occur in different physiological and disease states. We expect this type of predictive modeling to have far-reaching effects on health and disease.


In this master thesis we address the problem of optimal pin selection in four elementary topologies. The augmented connectivity of a graph is defined as an extension of the algebraic connectivity in a pinning control scenario, and its key role in the pinning control problem is illustrated. For each of the considered topologies several pinning configurations are examined and they are compared in terms of the control strength they require to yield a desired value for the augmented connectivity. For each of the examined configurations a direct expression is provided for the control strength as a function of the augmented connectivity.


Seismological images represent maps of the earth's structure. Apparent bandwidth limitation of seismic data prevents successful estimation of transition sharpness by the multiscale wavelet transform. We discuss the application of two recently developed techniques for (non-linear) singularity analysis designed for bandwidth limited data, such as imaged seismic reflectivity. The first method is a generalization of Mallat's modulus maxima approach to a method capable of estimating coarse-grained local scaling/sharpness/Hölder regularity of edges/transitions from data residing at essentially one single scale. The method is based on a non-linear criterion predicting the (dis)appearance of local maxima as a function of the data's fractional integrations/differentiations. The second method is an extension of an atomic decomposition technique based on the greedy Matching Pursuit Algorithm. Instead of the ordinary Spline Wavelet Packet Basis, our method uses multiple Fractional Spline Wavelet Packet Bases, especially designed for seismic reflectivity data. The first method excels in pinpointing the location of the singularities (the stratigraphy). The second method improves the singularity characterization by providing information on the transition's location, magnitude, scale, order and direction (anti-/causal/symmetric). Moreover, the atomic decomposition entails data compression, denoising and deconvolution. The output of both methods produces a map of the earth's singularity structure. These maps can be overlayed with seismic data, thus providing us with a means to more precisely characterize the seismic reflectivity's litho-stratigraphical information content.


Nowadays, we lived in virtue era that everything will use glass or screen. Every student also will follow the era. Most of the students are holding the gadget wherever they go. Nairn in Joanna Canny (2013) states that children spend twice as much time in front of a screen (like televisions, computers, mobile phones, iPods, iPads, etc.). Even in the classroom they looking for their task and open their gadget. In this case, English Language Teacher should follow the era. Caused the students always hold the gadget, the teachers should provide the media that related to the gadget. To solve this case kahoot comes and bring new innovation. This media really awesome with nice features which are colorful, shape, sound, and others feature that include in. Through this media, the teacher will manage the students with a fun learning like kahoots' tagline "make learning awesome". It will give the students attractive in learning English.
Keywords: Media platform, Kahoot, English Language Teacher


Objective:
 LCZ696 is a first-in-class angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibitor (ARNI) being developed for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases including hypertension and heart failure. Ingestion of LCZ696 results in systemic exposure to AHU377 (an inactive prodrug converted to LBQ657, neprilysin inhibitor) and valsartan (angiotensin receptor inhibitor). Warfarin, a CYP2C9 substrate and narrow therapeutic index drug , is administered to patients with cardiovascular diseases including heart failure . Since LCZ696 is a known weak inhibitor of CYP2C9, the objective of this study was to determine whether LCZ696 affects the pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) of warfarin. Also, the warfarin effect on the PK of LCZ696 was evaluated.

 Methods:
 This study employed an open label, single blind, two-period, crossover design in 26 healthy subjects. In each period, subjects received either 200 mg LCZ696 or matching placebo b.i.d for 10 days with a single dose of 25 mg warfarin co-administered on Day 5. Serial PK samples were collected on Day 4 and Day 5 and analyzed using validated LCMS/MS methods. Prothrombin time (PTT) and INR values were measured for up to 144 hours post warfarin dose. The PK parameters including Cmax and AUCs of LCZ696 analytes (LBQ657 and valsartan) and warfarin (R-warfarin and S-warfarin) and PD parameters of warfarin (peak PTT, peak INR, AUC-PTT, and AUC-INR) were determined using noncompartmental methods and results were statistically evaluated.

 Results:
 The 90% confidence intervals (CI) of geometric mean ratios of Cmax and AUCs (test/reference) for R-warfarin, S-warfarin, LBQ657, and valsartan were within the 80 - 125% suggesting lack of PK interaction between LCZ696 and warfarin. Further, the 90% CI of geometric mean ratios of average (AUC effect/144) and peak PD effects (PTT and INR) were also within the 80 - 125% range indicating no impact of LCZ696 on warfarin PD.

 Conclusion:
 Co-administration of 200 mg LCZ696 b.i.d with single dose of 25 mg warfarin did not alter the PK exposures of LCZ696 analytes (LBQ657 and valsartan) and warfarin. Also, LCZ696 did not affect the PD effects of warfarin. LCZ696 200 mg b.i.d was safe and well tolerated when administered alone or with single dose of 25 mg warfarin.


A high-speed in-situ laser absorption sensor has been developed for cycle-resolved emissions analysis in the exhaust manifold of production-scale internal combustion engines. An inline sensor module, using optical fiber-coupling of interband and quantum cascade lasers, targets the fundamental rovibrational absorption lines of carbon monoxide and nitric oxide near 5 μm in wavelength. The sensor module was integrated into a commercial EPA-certified natural gas spark-ignition generator operated at 3,300 rpm for measurements of exhaust pulse temperature, CO, and NO concentrations at a rate of 10 kHz. Novel high-temperature optomechanical design enabled in-stream sensor coupling near the exhaust valve with local gas temperatures up to ∼1200 K and valve to sensor gas transit times on the order of milliseconds. Measurement results reveal high degrees of intra-cycle and cycle-to-cycle variations which are otherwise undetectable with standard emission gas analyzers. Sensor response to variations in fuel composition was evaluated by introduction of 1–10% NH3 or H2 into the natural gas fuel system. The effects of fuel blending on exhaust emissions of CO and NO were well-distinguished even at 1% volume fraction, and the sensor captured both intra-cycle and cycle-averaged emissions differences between the three fuel types. Measured concentrations of CO and NO ranged from 0.1–2.8% and 30–3500 ppm with detection limits of 0.07% and 26 ppm, respectively. The exhaust sensor presented here has potential for integration with real-time control systems to enable adaptive optimization of polyfuel internal combustion engines to meet the need for flexible, low-carbon, on-demand energy conversion.


The paper presents a new technology with application in visual function and body equilibrium prevention and rehabilitation was proposed and developed. It invokes to apply a set of assisted tests to detect any sight or balance diseases for children aged between 4 and 10 years. At this age, such of problems can be yet successfully solved via assisted training exercises as rehabilitation process. The testing invokes to induce some degree of body destabilization, while the subject have to coordinate his hand and eyes to react properly and in time to different light stimulus occurring randomly on a laptop or tablet display. For this reason a dedicated plate was carried out, having the possibility to adapt selectively some special elements for progressive destabilization degrees inducing. For light stimulus, a flexible software interface was developed for different age categories. It has also the role to evaluate the time and property of the person's reaction to extinguish the stimulus during testing. In actual stage, the test was applied for a child aged 5 years, having small problems in stability and hand – eyes coordination. It was observed that the test was attractive one for the child, being considered as a game. Besides, after about several weeks of training it was demonstrated that the child has a better body posture on the destabilization plate and also better hand-eye coordination. Due to the fact that the developed and proposed technology proved to be efficient one, it will be applied for other persons the above mentioned age range, for prevention and rehabilitation by training.


Solid-state materials have recently emerged as a new stage of strong-field physics and attosecond science. The mechanism of the electron dynamics driven by an ultrashort intense laser pulse is under intensive discussion. Here we theoretically discuss momentum-space strong-field electron dynamics in graphene and crystalline dielectrics and semiconductors. First, within massless Dirac fermion and tight-binding models for graphene, we rigorously derive intraband displacement and interband transition, which form the basis for understanding solid-state strong-field physics including high-harmonic generation (HHG). Then, based on the time-dependent Schrodinger equation for a one-dimensional model crystal, we introduce a simple, multiband, momentum-space three-step model that incorporates intraband displacement, interband tunneling, and recombination with a valence band hole. We also analyze how the model is modified by electron-hole interaction. Finally, actual three-dimensional materials are investigated. We present a time-dependent density-matrix method whose results for HHG are compared with experimental measurement results. Moreover, we describe the dynamical Franz-Keldysh effect in femtosecond time resolution, i.e., the time-dependent modulation of a dielectric function under an intense laser field, using a real-time time-dependent density functional theory.


We demonstrate 850-nm oxide-confined vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) with a locally etched subwavelength surface grating that are single-mode and polarization stable from threshold up to thermal roll-over, reaching /spl sim/4 mW of output power. The side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) is >30 dB and the orthogonal polarization suppression ratio (OPSR) is /spl sim/20 dB. Moreover, no distortion of the far-field beam profile is observed as a result of the surface grating. Our numerical calculations show that a carefully designed VCSEL can have a high simultaneous mode and polarization selectivity without a significant increase in loss for the favored fundamental mode with polarization state perpendicular to the grating lines. This indicates characteristics such as threshold current and resonance frequency will not be notably degraded. The calculations also show a low sensitivity to variations in grating etch depth and duty cycle, which relaxes fabrication tolerances. In our experimental parametric study, where the oxide aperture diameter, surface grating diameter, and grating duty cycle were varied, the combined mode and polarization selection was investigated. For an optimum combination of oxide aperture and surface grating diameters of 4.5 and 2.5 /spl mu/m, respectively, the device is found to be single-mode and polarization stable for a broad range of grating duty cycles, from 55% to 75%, with only a small variation in other laser performances, which is in line with theory.


Poverty rates among households with children in Spain have been shown to be persistently higher than those among households without children. These higher rates prevail for chronic, transitory and, most remarkably, for recurrent poverty. In order to study the dynamics of poverty transitions in Spain we estimate a dynamic random effects probit model that controls for unobserved heterogeneity and initial conditions using the European Community Household Panel. Our results show differential effects of several individual and household characteristics on the probability of being poor for households with and without children. Of special interest is how labour instability factors can help to explain the outstandingly higher recurrence in poverty among households with children in Spain, compared with other countries.


Since the beginning of the new millennium, the near universal spread of camera-loaded smartphones and web photo sharing has led to the profuse growth of all the historically familiar genres of vernacular photography, such as family snapshots and photos of friends, travel and vacation photos, landscape and photo-booth photos. The first institution to be challenged by the smartphone camera-wielding multitudes was journalism, where we 've seen the massive invasion of amateur imagery into the prestigious terrain of 'breaking news' and documentary photography. The photojournalists' response was to castigate the amateurs' lack of the objectivity and ethical standards that give their profession its distinctive public value and significance. At least as much, if not more, controversy accompanied the astounding popularity of selfie-taking. If in the case of the omnipresent 'accidental photo-reporter' what was at stake was the moral status and legitimacy of photojournalism, in the case of the ubiquitous 'accidental self-portraitist' the stake was the moral status and legitimacy of the time-cherished institution of the self-portrait. With a pedigree that goes back to the cultural heroes of the Renaissance, the artist's self-portrait is a visual genre that, both in painting and photography, is revered as a signature artwork, crucial for the self-fashioning of the artist as well as for the art-historical significance of his work. The artworld's reaction is characteristically defensive. The exhibition This is not a Selfie at the San José Museum of Art (2017), comprising 80 photo self-portraits created by celebrated artists, aimed, according to the Museum's curator Rory Padeken, at highlighting the importance of distinguishing between selfies and 'the fine art genre of photographic self-portraiture' (Artdaily 2017). His statement condenses the artworld's resolve to deny any blurring of the borderlines between experts' and laymen's self-portraits. At the same time, the artworld has readily incorporated to the art-historical narrative various artists' engagement with the bland, unpretentious aesthetics of photo-booth portaiture – like Andy Warhol, Francis Bacon or Cindy Sherman – and, more recently, the selfies made by Ai Weiwei, the self-confessed 'best selfie artist' (Sooke 2017).


In this article, Lieber et al . performed a retrospective analysis of data in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database, comparing 257 patients who underwent robot-assisted lumbar fusion with 257 matched controls who underwent conventional lumbar fusion. After controlling for various patient factors, they did not find a significant difference in minor or major complications between the two groups. However, they report increased hospital costs and length of stay in the robot-assisted group, compared with the conventional lumbar fusion group.


Thulium-167 is a promising radionuclide for nuclear medicine applications with potential use for both diagnosis and therapy ("theragnostics") in disseminated tumor cells and small metastases, due to suitable gamma-line as well as conversion/Auger electron energies. However, adequate delivery methods are yet to be developed and accompanying radiobiological effects to be investigated, demanding the availability of 167Tm in appropriate activities and quality. We report herein on the production of radionuclidically pure 167Tm from proton-irradiated natural erbium oxide targets at a cyclotron and subsequent ion beam mass separation at the CERN-MEDICIS facility, with a particular focus on the process efficiency. Development of the mass separation process with studies on stable 169Tm yielded 65 and 60% for pure and erbium-excess samples. An enhancement factor of thulium ion beam over that of erbium of up to several 104 was shown by utilizing laser resonance ionization and exploiting differences in their vapor pressures. Three 167Tm samples produced at the IP2 irradiation station, receiving 22.8 MeV protons from Injector II at Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), were mass separated with collected radionuclide efficiencies between 11 and 20%. Ion beam sputtering from the collection foils was identified as a limiting factor. In-situ gamma-measurements showed that up to 45% separation efficiency could be fully collected if these limits are overcome. Comparative analyses show possible neighboring mass suppression factors of more than 1,000, and overall 167Tm/Er purity increase in the same range. Both the actual achieved collection and separation efficiencies present the highest values for the mass separation of external radionuclide sources at MEDICIS to date.


Currently, for the production of cellulosic ethanol, multi-step unit operations, including pretreatment, solid/liquid (S/L) separation, solids washing, liquid detoxification, neutralization, enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation, are the commonly required steps responsible for elevating the capital and operating costs. To simplify these steps, consolidated bioprocessing (CBP), focusing on the multi-functional microbial strains, was proposed. However, this process has not been commercialized yet. In this study, using an acid–base mixture as a pretreatment catalyst, pretreatment, saccharification and fermentation were performed in one pot without S/L separation, neutralization and detoxification. From the one-pot process based on the acid–base mixture pretreatment (190 °C, 2 min and 0.15 (w/v) acid–base mixture) and 15 FPU of cellulase per g glucan and Sacchromyces cerevisiae, 70.7% of the theoretical maximum ethanol yield (based on the initial amount of glucan in the untreated rice straw) was obtained. This was comparable to the estimated ethanol yield of 72.9%, assuming a 90% glucan recovery yield after pretreatment × a 90% glucose yield from saccharification × a 90% ethanol yield from ethanol fermentation performed in three separate pots. These results suggest that the entire slurry processing of lignocellulose in one pot could be an attractive way to achieve economic sustainability in the production of fuel from lignocellulose.


Should we expect A levels to move seamlessly to degree courses?

This paper questions whether they are a good preparation for university and, indeed, whether they should be. It explores some of the findings from the University of Huddersfield TQEF project - 'Understanding the transition from school to university in music and related subjects' which has completed a close comparison of the various A level and BTEC syllabuses, carried out interviews with education bodies, teachers and lecturers, observed practice in schools and colleges and conducted a survey of 250 first year students across a range of courses.

School league tables have had a profound effect on teaching and learning styles and many students are not prepared for the independent learning and time management they will encounter in Higher Education.

This proves to be more problematic in some subjects rather than others. The survey demonstrated that, in one subject, the BTEC National Diplomas were a better preparation than A levels for the degree courses and that some A level students thought that their extra-mural musical activities prepared them for university better than the school curricula.

It is clear that QCA and the examination boards no longer focus on the suitability of their curricula as a foundation for university study – rather they are entry requirements. Furthermore pre-university qualifications are too diverse to expect a smooth transition from school to university. Recognising this, it may be more profitable to take a 'clean sheet' approach.


Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) applications, that are similar to that of other distributed systems, and a time- synchronization protocol has been developed. The time synchronization of WSNs is required for coordination and data consistency. To improve accuracy for WSNs by controlling the root node is still a problem. The Flooding Time Synchronization Protocol (FTSP) is a one of protocol for synchronization. FTSP utilizes a simple election process based on minimum node IDs. In this paper, we propose (FTSP) a new election root node method by neighbor node (NB). We analyzed the time synchronization error by calculating the average of the pairwise differences of the reported global times by a new root election. The time average was reduced suggesting FTSP based on neighbor node is more advantages than lower ID and neighbor node method conferred significantly better accuracy than lower ID method In this paper, we propose (FTSP) a new election root node method by neighbor node. We analyzed the time synchronization error by calculating the average of the pairwise differences of the reported global times by a new root election. The time average was reduced. This finding suggest that FTSP based on neighbor node is more advantages than lower ID and neighbor node method conferred significantly better accuracy than lower ID method


Spontaneous intracranial hypotension is an important cause of new daily persistent headaches in young and middle-aged individuals. The diagnosis is made based on low cerebrospinal fluid pressure with characteristic findings upon brain and spinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We present the case of a 15-year-old boy with spontaneous intracranial hypotension. Although his brain MRI was normal, his lumbar spinal MRI showed clustering of the nerve roots characteristic of arachnoiditis. Radionuclide cisternography revealed an epidural leak, which was treated with an epidural blood patch. The patient reached a near-full recovery within 24 h, and the lumbar spinal MRI findings mimicking arachnoiditis disappeared.


This article explicitly connects a growing body of specific literature, the political ecology of conservation, to some of the often overlooked, main conceptual components emerging from political anthropology and geography (sources of legitimacy, governmentality, territoriality, or state making), political economy (commoditization, market integration, niche markets, or gentrification), and cultural studies of the environment (cultural transformations of nature, cultural heritage and landscapes, taste, and identity politics). All these concepts and literary fields are at the basis of the contemporary social analysis of conservation policies and their consequences. The article also provides an updated large bibliography on the concepts potentially relevant to a political ecology of conservation. Key Words: conservation, governmentality, taste, nature, commoditization of nature, territoriality


This paper presents a method for using global positioning system (GPS) velocity measurements to improve vehicle lateral stability control systems. GPS can be used to calculate the sideslip angle of a vehicle without knowing the vehicle model. This measurement is combined with other traditional measurements to control the lateral motion of the vehicle. Noise estimates are provided for all measurement systems to allow the sensors to be accurately represented. Additionally, a method to calculate the lateral forces at the tires is presented. It is shown that the tire estimation algorithm performs well outside the linear region of the tire. Results for the controller and force calculations are shown using a nonlinear model to simulate the vehicle and the force calculations are validated with experimental measurements on a test vehicle.


Hospitals face an assault on property tax exemptions that threatens the foundations of all voluntary not-for-profit facilities. The Utah Supreme Court fired the first salvo in this campaign in 1985 in Utah County v. Intermountain Health Care, Inc. The court examined the distinctions between not-for-profit and for-profit hospitals, the extent to which the two hospitals involved were supported by donations and gifts, the "profit" derived from operation, the charges levied on patients, the level of charity care provided, and several other factors before concluding that the hospitals did not qualify as charitable institutions. Since then, efforts at taxing hospitals have grown dramatically. The definition of "charitable" is at the heart of the tax-exemption problem. Charitable is a legal "term of art," which encompasses for more than the simple provision of charity care. The promotion of health is a charitable purpose. Hospitals qualify under the Internal Revenue Code for tax-exempt status because they promote health--not because they provide charity care. Yet all hospitals promote health. What, then, differentiates not-for-profit from for-profit hospitals that justifies a tax exemption? The argument for continued exemption must be made, if at all, on the basis of the community benefit the not-for-profit provides. Charitable institutions exist to serve and benefit the community and to provide an avenue for voluntary association. They help to improve and promote the general welfare through education, religion, and culture. The real benefits of a not-for-profit entity are found in the fulfillment of these concepts.


This book is mainly based on the intangible heritage of Malawi, from cultural anthropology to archaeological studies. The book describes the Lambya ethnic group, who are based in the northern tip of Malawi, particularly in Chitipa district. It mainly outlines their customs, traditions and values. It is based on the live observation and participation of their daily values, customs and traditions. In some cases direct participant observation, which I carried out for a period of January 2008 – December 2012. The first part of this book is thus a description of what was observed and told to the author by the key informants for a period of five years. The accounts recorded in the early chapters of the book are mainly for the Lambya ethnic group, who in Chitipa largely resides in traditional authority Mwabulambya and Kameme, in which I have chosen to call the region as Lambya region as it used to be, before the name Chitipa came into use. This book is written for any reader who is interested in culture, history, anthropology, theology, tradition region, literature, folk knowledge and sociology at all levels. It can be used in primary, secondary and at tertiary level.


The scientific analysis of water distribution networks is considered an important and essential field in the design and implementation of water delivery networks for cities and populated areas around the globe. This field is enhanced by the development of computational analysis resulting from major advances in digital computers in recent decades. This allowed for some critical changes in the way consultancies, companies and businesses conduct their design, implementation and maintenance of large delivery systems that are supposed to last, reliably functional, for tens of operational years. This paper presents some of the new developments conducted in the derivation of fundamental principles for quantitative risk analysis and the techniques used to estimate the risk level factors that water networks face during all stages of their life span. The present analysis will also concentrate on the effect of simulated probabilistic pipe fractures on the performance of networks to deliver demand with a simulation period relative to the life span of the pipes. Results of risk analysis simulations for typical network scenarios showed that risk levels can be calculated in advance for any network. Those risk levels are found to increase with time, as expected. They have different pattern trends for different network connections, i.e. they can only be compared relative to some logistic changes inflicted on the same network under consideration, but have no meaning when comparisons are made between two completely different connectivity arrangements. The results also showed characteristic curves consistent with their theoretical evaluation derived, based on local segments, of star and delta arrangements of pipe connections. Those curves were seen to follow an exponential increase in risk values with time.